Damned If She Does, Damned If She Doesn't: Rethinking the Rules of the Game That Keep Women from Succeeding in Business [Paperback]

Lynn Cronin (Author), Howard Fine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 2010

Forty-five years after Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, women have yet to achieve parity with men in the workplace. Men continue to make more money than women, and women's representation in the higher management ranks continues to lag behind men's.

Damned if She Does, Damned if She Doesn't asserts that certain respected rules of business actually work against gender equality. The rules inadvertently create paradoxes that put women in no-win situations, limiting their opportunity to succeed relative to men. Written by a woman and a man who have lived in the trenches of the corporate battlefield, this perceptive analysis exposes five of these paradoxes and concludes with a new model for business, which the authors call a coed corporation.

The tacit rules of corporate culture that create these parity paradoxes are:

Be a team player: While women rarely receive recognition comparable to men, if a woman seeks recognition for herself, she is seen as not being a team player.

Attract mentors and advocates: Talented women who work hard often don't attract the respected mentors or win influential, loyal advocates to the same degree as men.

Show commitment to the job: A woman fully dedicated to her career is often perceived as lacking a personal life. Conversely, a woman with a fulfilling personal life is dismissed as not seriously committed to her career.

Bond with coworkers: A woman who tries to bond with her male peers is seldom successful and tends to alienate both men and women.

Recognize your role in the system: If women accept their role, nothing changes; if they challenge it, they are stigmatized and their careers are limited.

With the insights that these two seasoned consultants provide, changes can be made that will finally achieve true gender parity in the workplace.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Married couple and management consultants, Cronin and Fine tackle the persistent gap in workplace equality and payment parity between the sexes. After witnessing how much more quickly Fine advanced in his career—despite their near-identical education and work performance—and observing the difficulties that their daughter was facing in her job search, the couple took a long look at the factors holding women down. The book breaks down the corporate culture mantras (e.g., find mentors, be prudent in challenging the power structure) and the hidden impediments they pose for women. Despite major gains for women elsewhere in society, little has changed for women in corporate America; sexism is insidious rather than overt, and in dealing with men in the workplace, women are still presented with two options: fight them or become them. But becoming them can backfire, as Cronin and Fine demonstrate through stories of women struggling to break into corporate culture and bond with co-workers. This intelligent and substantive work is a must-read for all businesspeople—and will make an excellent graduation gift for young women entering the workforce. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Brilliant analysis with concrete solutions! If you are a decision maker at any level with a strong belief that you treat women and men equally, think again. Damned If She Does, Damned If She Doesn't will open your eyes to gender inequities which you probably have missed and then lead you to solutions which will result in true gender parity." --Joseph A. LoCicero, currently CEO of the Segal Group, and formerly CEO of Buck Consultants

"This book makes you 'rethink' the rules of business and demonstrates the subtle but powerful differences that occur when the same rules are practiced by women in business vs. when practiced by men in a similar environment. It helps to open our eyes and see more clearly the issues surrounding gender equality in the workplace. I only wish this book existed 35 years ago when I started my career!" --Mary Moriarty, former vice-president, Compensation & Benefits, Sony Music Entertainment

"This book provides a provocative new look at women in the workplace today and the cultural paradoxes they face in moving upward in their careers. Cronin and Fine have presented a unique and fresh look at these challenges and provided a road map for women toward achieving true parity." --Rob Lynch, president & CEO, VSP Global

"Wasting resources is a surefire recipe for under-achievement in any endeavor. Damned If She Does, Damned If She Doesn't brilliantly addresses the greatest and most insidious waste in business today, and articulates a roadmap for courageous managers, present and future, male and female, seeking to understand and create the win-win culture of a truly post-gender workplace." --Jo Ann Corkran, managing director, Golden Seeds (Angel Investors)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (April 21, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1616141743
• ISBN-13: 978-1616141745
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,269,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lynn Cronin (New York, NY) is a veteran consultant for many Fortune 500 companies who has also held numerous high-level corporate positions, including vice president of management development with Sony Music Entertainment Co., consultant and account manager for Watson Wyatt Worldwide (a global human resources consulting firm), and partner with Hewitt Associates (the leading global human resources consultancy).

Howard Fine (New York, NY) has a wealth of high-level managerial experience, including Senior Managing Director of the Human Capital Management Solutions division of Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS), Executive Managing Director of Buck Consultants, Managing Director at Watson Wyatt Worldwide, and partner with Hewitt Associates.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable guidance, May 9, 2010

By 

Susan (Long Island, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Damned If She Does, Damned If She Doesn't: Rethinking the Rules of the Game That Keep Women from Succeeding in Business (Paperback)

The authors present the stories of women who, like me, struggled to find their place in corporate America, often discovering that hard work and total immersion do not necessarily go hand-in-hand with advancement. This book provides remarkable insights and guidance that could significantly benefit the next generation of women managers and executives. I highly recommend it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Original and critical issues for women in business, September 26, 2010

By 

Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Damned If She Does, Damned If She Doesn't: Rethinking the Rules of the Game That Keep Women from Succeeding in Business (Paperback)

Frankly, I didn't think I'd ever see anything original on this topic. Most books on women and business are either whiny or over-the-top cheery.

Cronin and Fine will help a lot of women with their message: "It's probably not your fault if you're hitting a wall. If you follow the corporate culture, the rules won't work for you. If you don't...well, organizations punish rule-breakers."

I was particularly taken with the example of the woman who joined a colleague in bringing a sensitive issue to the attention of their mutual boss's boss. He was praised for being a courageous leader; she was criticized for challenging a male boss. Any woman who's been in the corporate world more than ten minutes will have her own examples. A male professor friend was horrified when his female department head asked him to call the maintenance people about a problem; when she called, her requests landed at the bottom of the pile.

The book is well written and extremely easy to follow. It's actually hard to put down.

My only complaint is that the authors claim, "Change has to come at the organizational level." In fact, some women do rise to senior corporate positions. They do become senators and college presidents. It would be useful to ask, "How did they do it? Did they modify the rules?"

Additionally we can learn lessons from the military, where women are expected to dress and behave in ways that aren't typically feminine. I recently read and reviewed a book about a female African American woman who became a Captain in US Navy; she used humor to defuse tense situations. Women are flying planes off carrier decks and getting named to command West Point cadet brigades. They don't just get jobs: they get promoted. What's their secret? My hunch is that women succeed when their activities can be quantified so their achievement is undeniable; they've made more sales, scored higher on a proficiency or won more basketball games.

It's also possible that successful women have learned to modify their styles. Pat Summitt, the legendary basketball coach, wrote that she softened her style when dealing with campus administration; she drew on her sorority persona so she wouldn't be threatening.

My own belief is that women have to forge their own path and make their own rules. It's much harder than just responding to corporate culture but in the end it may be even more rewarding.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mandatory reading for our sons, June 9, 2010

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Free as a bird "Devoted reader" (Charlotte NC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Damned If She Does, Damned If She Doesn't: Rethinking the Rules of the Game That Keep Women from Succeeding in Business (Paperback)

Fabulous insight! The "male proving ground" concept frames this problem perfectly. Having been in two female dominated businesses, retail and teaching, I can attest that it can be even more intense for men in those professions. They really need to prove themselves. It is up to us to innoculate the next generation of male co-workers. I'm buying this book for both of my sons!